“Why support for Syria’s nonviolent fighters is key to ending the war” on Waging NonViolence
There will be no end to the civil war in Syria without the sustained and active participation of Syrian activists, peacebuilders and humanitarians inside the country, in the surrounding region, and dispersed in the diaspora.
These individuals and groups, which are operating under the most difficult conditions imaginable, are building and sustaining health and education systems, protecting civilians from violence and extremism coming from multiple sides, organizing to increase community participation in the peace process, and trying to imagine and piece together an alternative future. They include groups like the The White Helmets, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Karam Foundation, Citizens for Syria مواطنون لأجل سوريا, Syria Deeply, Project Amal ou Salam – مشروع أمل وسلام , the Center for Civil Society and Democracy in Syria, the المنصة المدنية السورية Syrian Civil Society Platform, الرقة تذبح بصمت Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, Khadraa Organization, Syrian Expatriate Medical Association – SEMA, منظمة بنفسج – Violet Organization, the Syrian Emergency Task Force and Women Now For Development. These organizations are building the resilience, social capital and civic infrastructure upon which a future peace will rest.
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The voices of these Syrian nonviolent fighters should be amplified in the media, their shoestring budgets should receive multi-year support, and they should feel international solidarity.
